Illegal immigration

From Conservapedia

Illegal immigration is the act of immigrating to a country without having the right to do so. A person who migrates without the legal right to do so is known as an illegal alien. In other English-speaking countries, illegal aliens are often referred to as "illegal immigrants".

Employers like hiring non-Americans because they can pay illegal aliens less and ignore state and federal employment laws. Ann Coulter

U.S.

Illegal immigration has become a major issue in the United States in the 1980s, and continues to be a highly visible issue.

Economic aspects

Illegal immigrants pay sales taxes and gasoline taxes; most are too poor to pay income taxes. Many use fake Social Security numbers and pay Social Security taxes but are not eligible for any benefits. Many use tax-payer funded services such as health care and schools.

Numbers of people

Pew estimates about 12 million illegal immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2004.[1] However, many are afraid to use available services, such as domestic violence shelters, out of fear of deportation. Many illegals cannot speak English.

Arguments favoring it

No one else wants those jobs anyway

Illegal immigration is defended, saying that immigrants are simply coming to take unskilled jobs that better educated Americans avoid, such as picking fruit and lettuce, making hotel beds and working in slaughterhouses. One could just as easily argue, however, that these jobs in part only seem unappealing to many Americans because of their association with illegal immigrants. Furthermore, not all illegal immigrants pursue undesirable jobs. In a recent case in California, a Hispanic man who came to the country illegally sought the right to take California's Bar Exam in order to practice law.[2]

In the United States and most other countries, it is illegal and punishable by law to hire a worker without legal work authorization. In the United States, it is often felt that immigration laws are either loosely or infrequently enforced. The same feeling has often been encountered in Europe, resulting in European countries tightening their immigration laws and increasing enforcement. Countries and territories such as Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong are very strict about the enforcement of immigration laws. Illegal immigrants caught working in these places can expect deportation, perhaps a prison term, and their employers may be fined heavily.

They need political asylum

A small percentage come illegally to escape political oppression, as legal channels are not open to them.[3][4][5] Marriage to a U.S. citizen does not automatically gain one citizenship. When Army Spc. Alex Jimenez was captured by terrorists in Iraq, his wife was almost deported by the government. Strong public opinion allowed her to stay.[6]

Where they come from

Mexico is the source of the about half of the recent illegal immigrants to the United States. Most arrive legally and over-stay their visas. Others cross the border mostly through the desert southwest or less often by swimming across the Rio Grande. Canada is another large source. Currently estimates show around 70,000 undocumented Canadian workers work in the U.S. They come over from the border with Canada along the northern part of the United States which is not nearly as secure as the southern border with Mexico.

Dispute with Mexico

The United States receives constant criticism from the Mexican government for its efforts to curb illegal immigration. And United States officials criticize Mexican officials for passing out handbooks on how to cross the border, saying Mexico is trying to avoid political and governmental reforms at home by encouraging its citizens to leave.

Legal aspects

Under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, "Improper Entry by Alien," any citizen of any country other than the United States who:
-Enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers; or
-Eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers; or
-Attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact; has committed a federal crime.
Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.

Illegal entry is not a misdemeanor in U.S. law, at the level of speeding. Those who are caught are usually promptly expelled from the country without penalty. However, multiple illegal entries can lead to felony convictions.

Legislative leaders in at least half a dozen American states say they will propose bills similar to a controversial law to fight illegal immigration that was adopted by Arizona last spring, even though a federal court has suspended central provisions of that statute. [2]

Mexico and Mexicans

Ironically, one of Mexico's harshest criticisms was a plan by the United States to make illegal immigration a felony offense, which would impose harsher penalties on illegal Mexican immigrants. Mexico's own laws make illegal immigration a felony offense in that country.[3][4]

Many Mexicans have to come to the United States to work because for many years the Mexican government was socialist, being under the control of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which limited economic opportunity and growth. Before 2001 there was frequent movement across the border. It was common to work in summer jobs in the U.S. and spend the winter in Mexico. Border security since then has become much stricter, and it is far more difficult to cross repeatedly. Therefore the tendency was to remain in the U.S.

An unintended consequence of the tighter border security is that millions stayed in the U.S. and did not return.

Like other immigrant groups, many illegals send money to their families remaining in the old country. In Mexico this funding is the second largest source of foreign income, after crude oil sales. It represents as much as 2.5 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product [7]

Canada and Canadians

Currently estimates show around 600,000[8] undocumented Canadian workers work in the U.S. They do not contribute to the U.S. economy in any way shape or form. Canadian citizens are not required to obtain Visas Unlike Mexican citizens, instead they have Visa waivers which last for six months. They take jobs from U.S. citizens primarily because they would be paid significantly less for the same jobs in Canada. (mainly in the construction industry.) The border with Canada is significantly easier to cross, due to several factors such as less Border Patrol personnel and a significantly greater border a 5,525 mile border with Canada compared (with 1,538 miles being added from Alaska 's border) to the 1,951 mile long border with Mexico. Along the border with Canada we have around 1,000 Border Patrol agents to cover the entire border, whilst on our border in Mexico we have around 11,000 agents.

Amnesty

The Reagan Administration gave amnesty to all the illegals present in the country in 1986. The "Immigration Control and Reform Act" of 1986 legalized the status of about 3 million immigrants which created a lot of Democrat voters. Other laws legalized the status of immigrants from Cuba and Haiti. In 2006 President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain proposed legislation to legalize the status of most of the illegals. The business and religious communities supported the idea, but grass roots opposition blocked passage in Congress and denounced the notion of "amnesty."

Moral issues

As the Bible exhorts people to be compassionate towards illegal immigrants (Exodus 23:9 and Leviticus 19:34), and as more Americans are Christian than any other religion, many Americans feel compelled by their religion to show compassion and caring for illegal immigrants, many of whom are trying to escape tyranny or poverty in their homelands.

Some conservatives oppose illegal immigration because it allows for immigrants to fall between the cracks of society thus making them more likely to commit crime or experience poverty. Other conservatives view illegal immigration as an exercise in a basic individualhuman right to pursue happiness. Illegal immigration is also economically damaging to countries because illegal immigrants will often work illegally for below minimum wage, resulting in job loss for legal citizens.

Advocates have long put a priority on gaining legal status for the children of illegal immigrants under the reasoning that most did not make the choice to enter the country illegally and have spent most of their lives here... [but] "we will not allow lawmakers to condemn our parents to second-class status,” Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream, said . “Our parents’ dreams enabled our dreams, and we owe our success to them and the sacrifices they made.” [5]

Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants in the U.S.

Among many others:

2002 - Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran in the United States, is currently serving a ten year prison term for assaulting two joggers in Washington D.C. is now suspected of killing Chandra Levy. The Levy case is famous because during the initial investigation her relationship with California congressman Gary Condit was revealed, ending his career. [9]

2005 - Raul Garcia-Gomez, shot two Denver police officers in the back, killing one. He fled to Mexico and was captured. However, the Mexican government sheltered Gomez until the American prosecutor agreed to not seek the death penalty against him. [10]

2008 - Diego Pillco, a 20-year-old from Ecuador, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter of actress Adrienne Shelly. Pillco was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Pillco admitted strangling Shelly and then hanging her body to make it look like a suicide. The judge said Pillco would be subject to immediate deportation upon release from prison. [11]

2008 - Edwin Ramos, killed three people on their way home from a family picnic. Ramos had been arrested multiple times before the killings (once for mugging a pregnant woman), but the city of San Francisco shielded him from deportation. [12]

Statistics

Where newcomers have settled

(SOURCE: Post analysis of Integrated Public Use Microdata (University of Minnesota) collection of census data.)

The amount of people immigrating to the United States illegally has declined since 2001. People who formerly moved back and forth across the border (working the agricultural fields in the US in the summer and wintering in a village in the winter) has declined, and instead they remain in the U.S. The estimated number of illegal immigrants in the United States in 2005 was about 12 million. [13][14]

$397 billion dollars have been paid to families containing illegal immigrants through social services since 1996. Most of the money goes to schooling for U.S. citizens and for children.[15]

The number of illegal aliens who are in prison is over 300,000, about 3% of the total.[16]

Sex offenders comprised 2% of illegals who have been arrested. Nearly one million sex crimes were committed by illegal immigrants in the United States, in the seven years 1999-2006. Each sex offender averaged 4 victims. [17]

Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household. Most of the costs were incurred by U.S. citizens, however, not by the illegals. On average, the costs that illegal households impose are less than half that of other households. In terms of welfare use, receipt of cash assistance programs by illegals tends to be very low, while Medicaid use, though significant, is still less than for other households. [18]

California spent more than 11 billion dollars per year on illegal immigrants. California is seeking the federal government to bail them out of their financial deficit spending.

There are some 7 million illegal immigrants in this country who lack health insurance, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.[6]